Adamas AM says China’s shadow banking not a sub-prime problem

According to Adamas Asset Management , the shadow banking system may pose some market risk but little systemic risk to China’s financial markets. Furthermore, the firm says in its recent White Paper on China’s shadow banking, the recent "cash crunch" situation in China should be viewed as a temporary market distortion.

An independent alternative asset management firm, Adamas AM used to be called Gen2 Partners before rebranding earlier this year. It has assets under management of around $1bn and operates from offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Beijing.Barry Lau, managing partner at Gen2 Partners, attended the Opalesque Hong Kong Roundtable.

Shadow banking has become a dirty term in recent months – although the system is far from new. Some people compare it to the subprime crisis (akin to 2008’s) and say it will cause a collapse of the entire system. Some believe shadow banking is crucial to China’s developments, including that of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). Adamas AM does not think that shadow banking is a sub-prime problem, but does agree that shadow banking helps SMEs get by.